For some reason, I do not believe that this is because workers are happier at their jobs. US labor productivity has increased about 85% since 1960. Meanwhile, real wages have declined about 11%.
2. Slumburbia
From: NY Times. Timothy Egan
It's an interesting question: what to do with all these empty foreclosed homes? Since banks are still refusing to adjust most people loans, the problem is only going to worsen. I am thinking about a federally backed lease-to-own program that values assets at their current market price designed for laid-off workers who have been forced to move to find employment. Any ideas?
From: Project Syndicate. Joseph Nye.
This piece describes the recent movement in politics from who has the best policy, to who has the best story. It reminds of the divide that began in the eighties between a firm's stock price and what they actually produce. The consequence of this was readily apparent in the technology bubble. Firms' stock prices came to be valued at two to three hundred percent of their assets, revenue, profit, or any other measure people have historically used a to value stocks. The problem in both the financial and the political realms becomes an emphasis on the short run. That leaves the dead weight of the long run on the rest of us.
These economists have found that the Nordic countries have weathered the recession better than the US.I don't want to read to much into this due to the tremendous differences in the economies of the countries. But it should be noted that the Nordic countries have stronger labor unions, a larger safety net for unemployed workers, and a much stronger emphasis on education. In a recession, this leads to less unemployment and shorter durations of unemployment. Also, these policies should not sound so far fetched, seeing as how they were all part of US policy from 1950-1970.
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